Kallio leads on cool Day 1 in Valencia

Marc VDS Racing Team’s Mika Kallio who topped the timesheets as the first Official Moto2™ Test of 2014 took place in Valencia on Tuesday.

It was a cool first of three days at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, with the Moto2™ and Moto3™ classes sharing the track. Each category had one hour to itself, plus a further four and a half hours of communal track time. With air temperatures of only 12 degrees Celsius at 10am, the teams’ programmes were somewhat curtailed by far cooler conditions than those they had anticipated.

On the timesheets, Finn Kallio led the way with a leading lap time of 1’36.206, using his 2014 chassis but with 2013 body parts. He edged out Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Jordi Torres by a single thousandth of a second, with second Aspar rider Nico Terol – who won last year’s race at the circuit – in fourth place, now using his actual 2014 bike as opposed to the prototype he tested back in November. He placed the emphasis on finding more grip, while hoping for better weather over the remaining two days. Both Aspar riders had already tested here in a private outing last week.

In third place was Tom Luthi for Interwetten Paddock Moto2, keeping out of trouble at the same track on which he suffered arm and collarbone injuries in a pre-season crash last year; on this occasion, the Swiss continuing using the 2014 frame he had first tested before the end of 2013, but like most was affected by the cool conditions.

The top five was completed by second Marc VDS rider Tito Rabat, who for 2014 has switched to the Belgian outfit from Tuenti HP 40. In sixth was Takaaki Nakagami for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia, while Julian Simon was seventh for Nakagami’s previous squad Italtrans Racing Team. Sam Lowes became the sole Speed Up team representative following the departure of Italian Alessandro Nocco and finished eighth, while Tuenti HP 40 team-mates Maverick Viñales and Luis Salom completed the top ten. 11th and 12th spots were occupied by Caterham Moto Racing’s Johann Zarco and La Fonte Tasca Racing’s Alex de Angelis.

Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP and Viñales’ predecessor as Moto3™ title winner) was 17th, escaping uninjured from a crash, with the second Caterham of Josh Herrin 23rd; the American newcomer has now recovered from the strong fever that kept him out of track action in Almeria last week. Another rider to suffer a fall was Tech3’s Alex Mariñelarena (30th position), but like Cortese the Spaniard was able rejoin the action shortly after.

Moto2™ track action continues on Wednesday from 10am local time (GMT +1).